• Rouhani was elected to the Parliament of Iran (Majlis) for the first time in 1980.
• He went on to be elected to the Parliament of Iran for the five consecutive terms from 1980 to 2000.
• In his fourth and Fifth term, Rouhani became the deputy speaker of the Parliament as well as the head of defense committee (1st and 2nd terms), and foreign policy committee (4th and 5th terms).
• From 1989 to 2005, Rouhani was the first secretary of the SNSC(Supreme National Security Council).
• From 2000 to 2005, he remained the National Security Adviser to the president, Mohammad Khatami.
• In 2006, he was elected as a representative of Tehran Province to the Assembly's fourth term and is still serving in that capacity.
• Rouhani was elected as a member of the Assembly's "Commission for investigating ways of protecting and guarding Velayat-e Faqih" on 5 March 2013.
• In the 2013 Iranian Presidential Election, Rouhani won with landslide victory receiving 50.88% of Ballots.
• On 3 August 2013, Rouhani became the 7th President of Iran.
• On 20 May 2017, he was re-elected after securing approximately 57% of the vote.

Biggest Rival

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf

Personal Life

Date of Birth

12 November 1948

Age (as in 2019)

71 Years

Birthplace

Sorkheh, Semnan Province, Iran

Zodiac sign

Scorpio

Signature

Nationality

Iranian

Hometown

Sorkheh, Semnan Province, Iran

School

Rouhani did religious studies in 1960, first at Semnan Seminary before moving on to the Qom Seminary in 1961.

College/University

• University of Tehran
• Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland

Educational Qualification(s)

• He obtained a BA degree in Judicial Law in 1972 from the University of Tehran.
• In 1995, he graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland with an M.Phil. degree in Law with his thesis entitled "The Islamic legislative power with reference to the Iranian experience."
• In 1999, Rouhani obtained a Ph.D. degree in Constitutional Law for a thesis titled "The Flexibility of Shariah (Islamic Law) with reference to the Iranian experience."

• In June 2013, a British Daily Newspaper 'The Guardian' reported that Rouhani also had a fifth child, a son who died in unknown circumstances. Some sources reported that he had committed suicide "in protest of his father's close connection with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei". As per Saudi Newspaper 'Asharq Al-Awsat', the child left a suicide note in which he said,"I hate your government, your lies, your corruption, your religion, your double standard and your hypocrisy...I was forced to lie to my friends each day, telling them that my father isn't part of all of this. Telling them my father loves this nation, whereas I believe this to be untrue. It makes me sick seeing you, my father, kiss the hand of Khamenei."[4]The Guardian
• In February 2018, Rouhani's call to hold a popular referendum on disputed issues to break the political deadlock in the country had angered conservatives. [5]al-monitor.com

Some Lesser Known Facts About Hassan Rouhani

Rouhani is a cleric. Hojatoleslam is his religious title, which is a middle rank in the religious hierarchy.

In 1960, he started his religious studies at a seminary in Semnan province in Iran.

Hassan Rouhani in his childhood

During the Iranian Islamist movement, he started traveling throughout Iran making speeches against the government of the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. During those years he was arrested many times and was banned from delivering public speeches.

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi

In 1977, under the threat of arrest, Rouhani left Iran and joins Ayatollah Khomeini in exile in France.

Ayatollah Khomeini

In the Iranian Revolution in 1979, he tried his best to stabilize the nascent Islamic Republic and as a first step, he started with organizing the disorderly Iranian army and military bases.

Between 1980 and 2000, after the overthrow of the Shah, Rouhani served five terms in the National Assembly.

During 1983-88, Rouhani served as a member of the Supreme Defense Council.

During the Iran-Iraq war, from 1985 to 1991, Rouhani was the Commander of the Iranian air defenses and from 1988 to 1989, he served as the Deputy Commander of Iran’s Armed Forces.

After the Iran-Iraq war, Rouhani was offered a job in the Ministry of Intelligence in 1989. However, later he turned it down.

From 1989 to 1997, Rouhani held the post of the National Security Adviser to the president. He again held the same post from 2000 to 2005.

Over a period of two years, from 2003 to 2005, Rouhani was Iran’s top nuclear negotiator.

On 3 August 2013, Rouhani became the 7th President of Iran; defeating his nearest rival Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

On 27 September 2013, Rouhani held the conversation with former US President Barack Obama by telephone, the first direct conversation between leaders of Iran and the United States since 1979.

U.S. President Barack Obama talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during a phone call in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington September 27, 2013

On 28 September 2015, in his address to the General Assembly of the United Nations, Rouhani said,

A new chapter has started in Iran’s relations with the world.”

However, he also sais that America and Israel were partially responsible for the increase in global terrorism. He further said,

If we did not have the US military invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the United States’ unwarranted support for the inhumane actions of the Zionist regime against the oppressed nation of Palestine, today the terrorists would not have an excuse for the justification of their crimes.”

On 20 September 2017, in a reply to the US President Donald Trump‘s speech at the UN General Assembly; calling the nuclear deal with Iran an embarrassment to the United States, Rouhani called for an apology to the people of Iran for the “offensive” comments and “baseless” accusations, including Trump’s assertion that the “Iranian government masks a corrupt dictatorship behind the false guise of a democracy.”

On 22 July 2018, while addressing diplomats in Tehran, Rouhani warned the United States that war with Iran would be-

the mother of all wars.”

After the killing of General Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad on the orders of President Donald Trump on 3 January 2020, Rouhani told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in an hour-long telephone call that America’s interests in the region were “in danger.” He said,

The United States must know its interests and security in the region are in danger and that it cannot escape the consequences of this great crime.”